Bill Maher: Santorum homeschools his kids because he wants them locked up in his “Christian madrassa”

posted at 5:30 pm on March 11, 2012 by Tina Korbe

How very open-minded and reasonable it was of Bill Maher to deliver this little riff on the Santorums’ decision to homeschool their children (h/t NewsBusters):

Let’s not even get into his use of the term “madrassa,” which refers to an Islamic seminary that teaches mostly Islamic subjects. Suffice it to say anyone concerned about brainwashing should worry less about Rick Santorum’s children and more about subjugated women and children in the Middle East.

Instead, let’s focus on the “comedian’s” own appalling lack of knowledge. What Bill Maher doesn’t know about homeschooling could fill a book he’d never read. Fortunately, Noel Sheppard offers him a handy primer:

The 2009 Homeschool Progress Report found “homeschoolers scored 34–39 percentile points higher than the norm on standardized achievement tests. The homeschool national average ranged from the 84th percentile for Language, Math, and Social Studies to the 89th percentile for Reading.” …

“Only 4.2% of the homeschool graduates surveyed consider politics and government too complicated to understand, compared to 35% of U.S. adults(Table 2). This may account for why homeschool graduates work for candidates, contribute to campaigns, and vote in much higher percentages than the general population of the United States (Figures 2 through 7). For example, 76% of homeschool graduates surveyed between the ages
of 18–24 voted within the last five years, compared to only 29% of the relevant U.S. population (Figure 7). The numbers of homeschool graduates who vote are even greater in the older age brackets, with voting levels not falling below 95%, compared to a high of 53% for the corresponding U.S. populace. Interestingly, the three participants in the age-55–69 category were also more civically active than their peers nationwide (but the sample size was so small that this category was/is not included in the figures).”

58.9 percent of homeschool grads report that they are “very happy” with life compared with 27.6 percent for the general U.S. population. 73.2 percent find life “exciting” compared with 47.3 percent.

Homeschool grads also score higher on the ACT, are more likely to volunteer in their communities as adults and read more in general.

It’s true that some parents opt to homeschool their children because they don’t want their kids to be brainwashed by educators who have swallowed the latest progressive educational theories without a second thought or by textbooks authored by academics who have their own agenda. But does it follow, then, that because the parents don’t want their kids brainwashed by others that they want to brainwash them themselves? Or might it be possible that parents homeschool their children precisely because they want their kids to be able to think for themselves?

For two years, I was homeschooled. I also have a number of friends who were homeschooled through high school (including my sister-in-law). In my personal experience, parents who homeschool think the basic premise of education is to teach children to recognize and appreciate truth wherever they find it. I encountered a wider variety of viewpoints as a homeschooler than I ever did as a private school brat or a public school rat (and, yes, I’ve been both of those, too!) because the world became my classroom. Did my parents impart standards by which to judge the validity of ideas I encountered? Yes. Do I consider that brainwashing? No. In fact, I was so aware of my standards for truth that I was able to consciously reevaluate them as an adult. The brainwashed aren’t even aware of the standards by which they judge.

If it’s brainwashing to teach kids that objective truth exists (after all, if truth does exist, it precludes the possibility of relativism pretty quickly!), then the homeschool parents I know brainwashed their children. To Bill Maher, a belief in objective truth is “close-minded.” Never mind that basic logic teaches us that the idea that “there is no truth” is a self-defeating proposition. Eh, well, as Dr. Laura says, you can be so open-minded your brains fall out.

It’s also important to note that there are as many different ways to homeschool as there are families. Such a thing as “progressive homeschooling” has existed and still exists, for example. Back in the day when leftists were still anti-establishment instead of the establishment, they saw homeschooling as a radical thing to do, a way to prevent their children from being brainwashed into thinking capitalism was the only legitimate way to allocate resources. (Incidentally, David Mills wrote a pitch-perfect piece about “Homeschooling’s Liberalism” in the January issue of First Things magazine. If you’re a subscriber, don’t miss it!)

in English, the term madrasah usually refers to the specifically Islamic institutions. A typical Islamic school usually offers two courses of study: a ḥifẓ course teaching memorization of the Qur’an (the person who commits the entire Qur’an to memory is called a ḥāfiẓ); and an ʿālim course leading the candidate to become an accepted scholar in the community.

Leftists peddle this crap because they know it will create a backlash for Santorum.

So far the gullible GOP electorate has fallen for every Obama trick, most especially the assault on the Catholic Church.

Any vote for Santorum is a vote for 4 more years of Obama.

That said, while I would not homeschool my own children, we need all types of educational choice – public, private, Catholic, charter, home schooling and more. The Santorums are to be admired for their decision.

Wrong Tina. Madrassa in Arabic means school. That’s all. It has no inherent religious meaning or relationship unless you (or Maher) are using the American Right Wing Dictionary of Scare Words.

lester on March 11, 2012 at 5:35 PM

“Madrassa” means “school” in the same sense that “Allah” means “God” and “sharia” means “struggle.” Your pedantic lunacy does nothing to the settled question that Arabic madrassas are where kids are incited to do violence against all things and people non-Islamic.

“Madrassa” means “school” in the same sense that “Allah” means “God” and “sharia” means “struggle.” “law.” Your pedantic lunacy does nothing to the settled question that Arabic madrassas are where kids are incited to do violence against all things and people non-Islamic.

My wife and I homeschool our two children. We do it because we were dissatisfied with the local schools. As Tina mentioned, there are lots of reasons parents decide to homeschool their children, not just because of religion. Our daughter is in 11th grade, taking classes at the local community college, and busy trying to figure which university to attend. Our son is finishing up 8th grade and is busy flitting from one interest to another.
Bill Maher is a jerk. Sorry, there’s no other way to say it.
It’s amazing the power liberals have to read your mind and tell you your motives for doing something.

Pretty obvious Maher was using madrassa as an example of where people get indoctrinated and not in a good way. He doesn’t know squat about home schooling or Santorum and just can’t keep his mouth shut. Bet he used to get his heinie kicked a lot as a kid and he needs it now.

I’m not even certain why we’re talking about this thoroughly repugnant, c*ck-nosed sack of sh*t, apart from the aching hypocrisy he brings out in the left.

So he’s got a whole 60 minutes a week to go on TV and throw feces at the wall like an enraged chimp? Who cares? The only people who watch this sh*t are the same idiots who faint at Mocha Messiah sightings.

I don’t give a flying fook what these people say when they’re gathered around for their weekly daisy chain. Their days are numbered, and I’ve got better things to do than to waste my time listening to petulant sociopaths.

Bill Maher: Santorum homeschools his kids because he wants them locked up in his “Christian madrassa”

Or maybe it’s just because Rick is fairly certain that if he home schools his kids, they will out-score Bill Maher’s miserable pathetic offspring (presuming that the low-life scum has some) on the SAT and ACT college entrance exams.

Perhaps it escaped your notice, but you’ve chosen to visit this web site, known as Hot Air, which is a conservative blog penned by a small handful of bloggers, among which Tina Korbe is one of the main three or four. Perhaps if you do not want to read the thoughts of Tina, you should not visit the blog she is specifically hired to write. Just a thought.

Your absurd interpretation turns every single school in Arab speaking world into a terrorist camp.

lester on March 11, 2012 at 6:00 PM

I made no such assertion, straw man. But indeed, I do believe that the vast majority of them are, since that’s what Islam is and does. I don’t fall for that hokey “religion of peace” bullshit. It’s the religion of submission. Ya know, what the word “Islam” actually means?

in English, the term madrasah usually refers to the specifically Islamic institutions. A typical Islamic school usually offers two courses of study: a ḥifẓ course teaching memorization of the Qur’an (the person who commits the entire Qur’an to memory is called a ḥāfiẓ); and an ʿālim course leading the candidate to become an accepted scholar in the community.

Among Western countries post-9/11, the Madrasas are often perceived as a place of radical revivalism with a negative connotation of anti-Americanism and radical extremism, frequently associated in the Western press with Wahhabi attitudes toward non-Muslims. The word madrasah literally means “school” and does not imply a political or religious affiliation, radical or otherwise. They have a varied curriculum, and are not all religious. Some madrasahs in India, for example, have a secularized identity.

Your absurd interpretation turns every single school in Arab speaking world into a terrorist camp.

lester on March 11, 2012 at 6:00 PM

The post is about Bill Maher, yet you seem to be spending all your energy defending Islam.

darwin on March 11, 2012 at 6:05 PM

Not only that, but it’s curious that Maher himself chooses to use “Madrassa” for its negative connotations. Shouldn’t Lester’s beef be with Maher for using a supposedly innocent word for its negative connotations in reference to Christianity?

As long as Maher continues to get paid for his opinions, he’ll never go away. Going after right-wing Christians is so easy; Let’s see Maher criticize Muslims in the same way — not if he wants to keep his head. In other words, Maher doesn’t really believe or mean what he says, otherwise he would’ve been silenced long ago. He’s a hypocrite and a coward.

A maddrassa that teaches the koran is by definition teaching terrorism, and is therefore a terrorist training school.
Sura (8:12), “I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.”

Always remember that Bill Maher only says things like this because he is:
1. A Potty Mouth, and
2. A stand-up comic

See, now doesn’t that make it make total sense? It’s not because he’s an anti-Christian, anti-Islamic bigot (or a Misogynist for that matter). Nope just a potty-mouth and a comic – with a pure heart toward all others.

Always remember that Bill Maher only says things like this because he is:
1. A Potty Mouth, and2. A stand-up comic

See, now doesn’t that make it make total sense? It’s not because he’s an anti-Christian, anti-Islamic bigot (or a Misogynist for that matter). Nope just a potty-mouth and a comic – with a pure heart toward all others.

You’re welcome.

kburchard on March 11, 2012 at 6:10 PM

If he’s not funny, is he still a comic? Or just some random douchebag with an expensive soapbox..?

Perhaps it escaped your notice, but you’ve chosen to visit this web site, known as Hot Air, which is a conservative blog penned by a small handful of bloggers, among which Tina Korbe is one of the main three or four. Perhaps if you do not want to read the thoughts of Tina, you should not visit the blog she is specifically hired to write. Just a thought.

Shump on March 11, 2012 at 6:04 PM

Allah earlier had to abruptly close the Afghan Soldier thread after 504 comments. Said he also had to take out the Ban Hammer.

With fatal terrorist attacks on the decline worldwide and al Qaeda apparently in disarray, it would seem a time for optimism in the global war on terrorism. But the war has simply shifted to a different arena. Islamists, or those who believe that Islam is a political and religious system that must dominate all others, are focusing less on the military and more on the ideological. It turns out that Western liberal democracies can be subverted without firing a shot.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the educational realm. Islamists have taken what’s come to be known as the “soft jihad” into America’s classrooms and children in K-12 are the first casualties. Whether it is textbooks, curriculum, classroom exercises, film screenings, speakers or teacher training, public education in America is under assault.

Capitalizing on the post-9/11 demand for Arabic instruction, some public, charter and voucher-funded private schools are inappropriately using taxpayer dollars to implement a religious curriculum. They are also bringing in outside speakers with Islamist ties or sympathies. As a result, not only are children receiving a biased education, but possible violations of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause abound.

Suffice it to say anyone concerned about brainwashing should worry less about Rick Santorum’s children and more about subjugated women and children in the Middle East.

I care most about the brainwashing that goes on in American public schools. The examples here in California abound, with the legislature constantly mandating the teaching of liberal positions.
I do care about the women in the Middle East, but their society does not and our American feminists do not, so there is a limit regarding what we can do about it.

Back-to-school night was a lot of fun this year, especially when I asked the history teacher to defend why the textbook has easily 1/3 of the chapters devoted to Islam. I kinda felt bad for the guy – he was like 0bama, off-prompter…